In the past few months, many stories about Ellen DeGeneres and her treatment of her employees, and the public in general, have been making their way around social media.
Now, her show producers are responding to claims that The Ellen Degeneres Show is a “toxic work environment” after a story was published that slammed the show earlier this week.
Buzzfeed News published a story earlier this week that alleged there was a “toxic” work environment at Ellen’s show.
One current and 10 former Ellen show employees spoke to Buzzfeed for the article.
Some employees claimed they were fired after taking medical leave or bereavement days, while others said they were told not to speak to Ellen if she was around the office.
“That ‘be kind’ [expletive] only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” one former employee told BuzzFeed News.
“I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
“If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what’s going on,” one former employee said.
“I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, ‘Things are going great, everybody’s happy,’ and she just believes that, but it’s her responsibility to go beyond that.”
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“People focus on rumours about how Ellen is mean and everything like that, but that’s not the problem.”
“The issue is these three executive producers running the show who are in charge of all these people [and] who make the culture and are putting out this feeling of bullying and being mean.”
They continued: “They feel that everybody who works at ‘The Ellen Show’ is lucky to work there: ‘So if you have a problem, you should leave because we’ll hire someone else because everybody wants to work here.'”
One Black employee alleged that she experienced “microaggressions” and was “reprimanded” when she asked for a raise and suggested people undergo diversity and inclusion training.
“I feel like I’m not alone in this. We all feel this,” she explained.
“We’ve been feeling this way, but I’ve been too afraid to say anything because everyone knows what happens when you say something as a Black person. You’re blacklisted.”
Naturally, the news of this mistreatment has traveled fast on social media.
“@TheEllenShow what the hell???!? So beyond sad and disgusted. I thought you were on our side….” tweeted one Twitter user.
“Nice to [know] the truth finally, people are so enamored by her BS. I worked there for a week, long ago. Never was a fan,” tweeted another.
These stories about Ellen and her show being a nightmare to work for are not new.
These types of stories have been coming out of the woodwork for a while now.
It seems that with the COVID-19 Ellen show shutdown, production members have decided to let their feelings be known.
Now, the producers of the *Ellen* show are responding to the claims and are speaking out in defence of the show.
“Over the course of nearly two decades, 3,000 episodes, and employing over 1000 staff members, we have strived to create an open, safe, and inclusive work environment,” the statement began.
“We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience.”
“It’s not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us.”
“For the record, the day to day responsibility of *The Ellen Show* is completely on us,” the statement continued.
“We take all of this very seriously and we realize, as many in the world are learning, that we need to do better, are committed to do better, and we will do better.”
h/t: Buzzfeed News & E! News .
